Alphas
by ShawnMorgan
Summary: The Avengers have an a Sentinel type problem of problem to deal with.


ALPHAS

Author's Note: _In the end, this was longer than intended and my enthusiasm waned.I believe the quality dropped. I don't know if you guys think the start is any good to start with, but it's something to learn from. I may edit it and try to improve it in the future but for now it's going up as is. I hope it can be enjoyed anyway._

By _Iain Fortune_,

assisted by _Kevin Traynor_

_Times Square, NYC_

The Alpha Sentinel fired, and the vicious stream of energy blasted straight past the mighty Thor, missing him by millimetres. The Avenger turned and watched as the energy disintegrated the inner supports of an already damaged building. He swung Mjolnir in retribution, letting the hammer fly straight and true at the Sentinel. He didn't waste time checking his aim as he moved to protect the innocents from harm.

The stricken building had already began to kick up some dust, as damaged parts of it fell away and smashed into the fleeing crowd. Police were shouting and attempting to keep order as the people were being evacuated. Thor skidded under the collapsed support beam and with all his strength attempted to keep the building from crushing those before it. It was in this moment he wished the big green guy was here.

Trapped by his own honour, the son of Odin, was duty bound to protect these Mortals from harm. This meant for now he was out of the fight.

Iron Man noted this as he flew past, doing his best to run interference. The Sentinel tactically fired bolts at cars and other vehicles, causing a fair amount of chaos and fear, trying to overtax the Avengers, forcing them to fight two battles at the same time.

"I've got your back, Thunder God!"

Somewhat preoccupied, Tony Stark heard Thor's approving growl over the comms.

Iron Man winced as Sentinel blasts zeroed in on him. His on board computers responded by attempting to hack the Sentinel. He had limited success and managed to draw it's fire. He dodged about, flying straight at the Sentinel and between it's legs; letting loose a stream of flares as he did so in order to properly attract his attention, taking the heat off of Thor.

The Sentinel turned, swiping at the airspace Stark had just occupied, before letting loose a blast of energy that hit Iron Man pretty much dead on. The kinetic force punched him straight through the world famous giant screen of Time Square, and the building behind it. He smashed through several walls and rows of office space, before finally landing faceplate first into the office building's toilet.

"Great! Just great!" He growled, as he pulled himself from the basin. _This brings back memories, _thought Tony, _knelt with my head over the john. _

"Problem Stark?" Natasha queried over comms.

"No, no. Just taking a quick toilet break. Hows things?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Well stop pissing about and get back out here!"

Tony sighed, and sat staring back at the hole he'd made upon his entrance. "I will Roger that."

Police officers were trying to move people on as the battle raged. They streamed out past the God of Thunder as he braced their exit. There was a creak and people whimpered, but as soon as the ceiling sagged. Thor reasserted himself, gaining better traction, bracing it carefully. He gazed at a Police officer and smiled as much as he could. "Hurry. Do your duty as Kinsmen."

"Sergeant Hopkirk! This buildings comin' down any minute!" Patrolman Micky Lewis knew he would never forget this day even as he hurried to comply with Thors' bidding.

"I hear ya Lewis!" Sergeant Hopkirk was already exhausted, as he pushed through the crowd, trying to get the public's attention, but there was too much chaos for him and the small complement of New York's finest to deal with.. He wasn't sure what he could do here if he was brutally honest with himself.

There was a fair amount of panic and Hopkirk knew for certain they were losing control fast. It wasn't the fault of Joe Q Public, _that thing out there was terrifying, but they needed to leave fast. _

Then the crowd stopped. An unmistakable figure stood before them, shield hoisted, his star spangled uniform streaked with dust, and blood matting his golden cropped hair. Weary as he was, he stood tall and smiled reassuringly at the crowd. He spoke and his voice easily carried through the din.

"Everyone follow the officers to a safer location. The Sergeant here knows the way. Move out and stay safe." The effect of his presence was almost hypnotic

and people started working together. Here and there, the star spangled avenger would lightly guide a person. An old Japanese man with a cane was guided to a young women in jogging gear. A young black man with dreadlocks moved to help another who was struggling to see. Then the Captain checked behind him and something at the corner or his vision caught his eye. He stepped back. _There it was, just near the door, a child._

Huddled in fear behind the stricken building's entrance, a child was trying to hide herself from the chaos around her. She was _scared, and tears ran down her cheeks, leaving streaks in the dirt on her face._ The rubble shifted again and she whimpered. She looked up to see Captain America, his hand stretched out for her.

"You need to go with Sergeant Hopkirk, you are in danger here." There was no hesitation as she reached up and grabbed his hand, and he pulled her into a quick but reassuring hug.

"Sergeant! Get everyone here to safety!" He handed him the child. "Go with this officer."

Hopkirk gave the Captain a nod, and didn't waste any time. He bundled the girl up in his arms and lead the civilians and his men away. "Lewis, take over crowd control. Let's get these people moving."

The Sentinel scanned the area near the subway. _Human movement has ceased to be fractious, Hypothesising that Captain America is regaining control: Neutralising Captain America. Negative. Designating new target. Police Units. Disruption of police. Eighty Percent probability to distract Captain America. Elimination may be possible. _

Captain America felt a familiar sensation and acted, swinging his shield into position as he heard the threatening whine of the Sentinel's weapon charging up behind him and an immense calm washed over him. With that almost prescient sense veteran soldiers can develop, he blocked the massive blast of energy fired at him, but he was unable to stop the concussive force from sending him flying backwards into the evacuating crowd.

At that moment, adamantium arrows flew through the air responding to the Sentinel's attack. Hawkeye's counter sniping pinged off the armoured giant. As they were deflected, the arrows spewed heated black smoke, shrouding the Sentinel's view for a moment, but it would adapt quickly. "Natasha, he's all yours!"

"Copy that." A familiar voice responded over the coms.

Natasha Romanov aimed her Widow's Bites at it's legs. The multi thousand volt discharge collided with the thing, making it glow blue briefly.

She hoped to maybe immobilise it, or at the least refocus the machine's menace. Once again she and Clint were running interference, just like Nick Fury had taught them to. The machine almost nonchalantly fired a blast in her direction. Natasha's enhanced training was equal to the task of evasion.

Some distance away, Peter Parker caught the news feed of _Times Square_ and he cursed. He really couldn't get a day off but that was typical of his luck. He'd been at work upgrading social media tech of his laboratory and the instant he had switched off the headphone. The drop-in drop-out Avenger checked his geography, he was a few miles out. "Why am I always late to these things?"

_The Sentinel assessed the opposition. It didn't care about being destroyed, it only cared about uncovering as many weak points as possible for the upcoming revolution. For the glory of Ultron. Running Organic/Synthetic comparison. Nonetheless here and now, the odds of eliminating the Avengers were good._

_Threat Designation_

_Organic designate Thor: Asgardian. Priority target. Neutralise._

_Organic designate Captain America: Augmented Human, Alpha Level threat._

_Organic designate Iron Man: High Intelligence Human, Omega VI Battlesuit._

_Organic designate Hawkeye: Enhanced Human, limited endurance._

_Organic designate Black Widow: Serum Enhanced Human, Beta level Threat_

_Re-targeting civilians._

Even taking into account all of the upgrades Ultron had given it, the former mutant hunter knew how adaptable the Avengers were. They however had a weakness it had never suffered from; Emotion. it sent more bolts at cluster so civilians and a cut of crowd of would have been shoppers were sent flying.

Mary Jane for a split second blamed her husband for this. it seemed typical of the Parker luck. Nonetheless she made for cover in the way that she had been trained to by the best. Unfortunately for Mary Jane it was this incongruity that brought her to the Sentinel's attention.

_Organic designate is displaying abilities above expected parameters for normal human. File for possible investigation._

The Sentinel reached towards its target and Mary Jane cursed. She had enough experience of this kind of thing to know the damn thing was stalking her. She really wished that her phone hadn't been fried with all the others when the Sentinel's attack had begun.

"_Damnit_. That thing's going for, ah… ah _crap_!" Iron Man leapt into motion, thrusters on full as he flew in. The armoured avenger attempted to run interference but the Sentinel was too fast. It had also been baiting him.

Iron man flew straight at the Sentinel, only to be slapped away by a metal hand and found himself careening towards Thor, out of control.

"Thor. heads up!" Was all Tony managed as he smashed into the building. The impact was enough to dislodge Thor and the building fell down around them both.

A wave of thick dust billowed outwards from the building as it crumbled under its own weight. There were screams and cries of horror that were quickly diminished by the noise.

Then there was a different kind of rumble and a jagged shot of lightning slammed down into the debris, immediately clearing the dust. The familiar sight of the thunder god rising from assault, dragging the orange and gold Avenger from the rubble, and to his feet. "Thought I'd lost you there, metal man."

Stark groaned. "Well… that hurt. Good job I've had worse, uh... headaches."

Thor grinned even as he started twirling his hammer. "I believe the word you seek is _hangovers._"

There was an explosion that brought them back to the situation at hand. Both Thor and Iron Man turned to face the Sentinel as a bus was sent careening towards a building, smashing into it and tearing the bus apart, trails of flame gout in it's wake.

"Yeah yeah, now how about you give that rust bucket over there one. Let's see how he likes getting hammered."

There was the _whoop-whoop-whoop_ sound of Mjolnir being swung around then and the mighty son of Odin let fly. The Sentinel was sent staggering backwards

Iron Man blasted back into action and was streaking straight at the target when he recognised the still form of Mary Jane near the bus. His onboard sensors registered that she'd suffered a high impact trauma that had made her unconscious, but thankfully stable. For now. He changed course and landed beside her

Stark cursed silently _Damn it. Some sort of impact must've taken her out. Web Slinger's not gonna be happy! _

Just then, his visual sensor pick up the fast movement of the the very same red and blue webbed hero, as he zipped into the warzone. With an athletic twist, he landed beside Iron Man, kicking up a little of the dust.

Spider-Man took one look at his wife's still form, before crouching over her. He checked for a pulse, and was visibly relieved to find her stable. He then picked up his wife in his arms. Tony didn't say anything to the web-head, and stayed back for the moment. He was keeping watch for the wall crawler, waiting for the Sentinel's imminent return to battle.

Spider-Man seemed to only notice the genius playboy for the first time. "Hospital. _Now_!" He practically snarled, as rage started taking over.

Iron Man knew that tone and he took Mary Jane from Parker without a word, just a nod. He kicked his jets and streaked off away from the scene, prepared to dodge any incoming fire and interposing his form between any assault and the unconscious woman in his arms.

The Sentinel took advantage again of Iron Man being preoccupied and fired at his retreating back, but was thwarted by a famed spinning shield. The red white and blue blurred through the air, which deflected the beam of energy

harmlessly into rubble

"Hey tin man!" Captain America called out, "Pick on someone your own size!" As the the shield rebounded from building to building and back into his hands, he

The Sentinel took deliberate aim at the defiant hero even as the defiant hero brought up his shield hoping to survive the oncoming assault. Even if he didn't, as long as one innocent life was saved, he considered it worth the cost.

He was barely in time with as the Sentinel opened fire with a continuous barrage, and began a measured advance. Then with one arm raised to strike whilst the other maintained fire The Sentinel staggered back, again repulsed.

Cap looked up, expecting to see the mighty son of odin or the repulsor rays of Iron Man. What he saw was red and white blur, ricocheting from one wall to another, careening off the Sentinel as it wet.

"Avengers, now!" and as Hawkeye and Black widow gave covering fire he rolled behind the bus.

The two human avengers above opened and Clint radioed Natasha.

"Do you see who I see?" Clint was grinning from ear to ear even as he dodged the occasional pot shot.l

"Yeah, but he that thing was giving us all problems even before Iron Man had to perform medevac and if Thor and shellhead can't take it down…"

"Didn't you recognise the redhead Stark had in his arms?"

"Why would I know... Whoa!" Natasha nearly lost her footing as a compromised ledge gave way beneath her. Arching her body she managed to swing herself back to more solid footing.

Clint heard her and he breathed a sigh of relief as he her Natasha's own over his radio. He spoke quickly. "If shellhead tried to make that particular redhead his doxy, webs would punch him in the face, _through his armour_."

"I thought web head had radio contact with us?"

"He does."

"I cant hear anything."

"That's cos he ain't talking…" Clint smiled grimly as he said this. he Knew what it meant.

In the fight below, Mjolnir flew straight and true once more and it hit the Machine, and hit it hard. Cap noticed that there were slender strands of webbing. He noticed them a split second before spider-Man slammed both feet into the Sentinel's eyes.

Internal battle systems tried to track Spider-Man and the Sentinel correct its aim to deal with the new primary threat.

_Designate Spider-Man. Observed manoeuvres do not correlate with known records. Unable to lock on. _Spider-Man had already been calculating battle strategy at inhuman speed. Then he had gotten serious.

_Designate Spider-Man: Weaknesses and fears discernible through nervous banter, mostly used to deflect observation. secondary purpose, annoy opponents. Negative, subject non audible. _

Watching on the video of the bank that he was holding up, Professor Otto Octavius frowned as he saw the news footage. He paused, for a second, splitting enough of his concentration enough to remembered not to crush the skull of the imbecilic security guard that had actually thought he could get away with firing at him. He wasn't even remotely concerned about the rest of the people in the bank, as he dangled the security guard seemingly absent mindedly (in truth faking to cow the people further)

What happened next shocked everyone except Otto. He dropped the bags and released the guard the bags. Then he raised his hands and said "I surrender."

In the Latverian Embassy His royal majesty Victor Von DOOM watched studiously. He shrugged, for except in the matter of the _accursed_ Fantastic Four, he could muster exceptional patience and thus spake DOOM.

"Annoying" he said as he regarded the silent web slinger. "It seems tomorrow will be a better day to enact my vengeance."

Spider-Man was becoming a blur he was moving so fast. his punches rained down as he pummelled the articulated areas of the Sentinel. Webbing blocked gun ports and Spider-Man was thwipping his way round, keeping the Sentinel occupied.

Covered in gossamer threads, vision impaired, it was unable to properly counter act Thor's next attack which was simply to jump at it and smash it in the head with Mjolnir. Sparks flew and quiet descended.

The silence was broken by Spider-Man on the ground letting rip with even more webbing of the Sentinel's neck. And then he pulled and the Sentinel toppled causing a cloud of dust to rise

Jameson, a newspaperman to his bone, whilst remaining out of harm's way as much as he could but still staying close enough to watch breathed a sigh of relief. he hurried out of the building he was in and made his way to his favourite target.

Spider-Man was still tense, and the spider sensed the approach of an... 'enemy'? without hesitation he prepared to resume battle.

Yet the approaching does not quite detect as threat. Spider-Man scurried over to check, his Peter Parker sub conscious slowly resurfacing and slowing down reaction.

"Dagnabbed blamed…" Jonah's voice trailed off and through his experience of journalism in hot situations suddenly realised that he was trading on thin ice. This was why he was suddenly very happy to see Captain America.

Spider-Man was confused. The hostile being didn't move and wasn't threatening. he leaned forwards ever so slowly to check, peering intently into Jonah's nervous face., letting the man see the large blank bug like eyepieces.

Captain America strode purposefully forwards and rested one hand on Spider-Man's arm. The web slinger turned still ready to fight but stopped, as his instincts registered a superior, his commander. his _Alpha._

"Stand down Avenger. It's over. _Everybody's_ safe. She's okay."

The words hit Peter Parker like ice cold water and he came back to his senses

Jonah, seeing the wall crawler change posture regained his 'courage' "I always said you were a menace and creepy with it!"

Peter sighed wearily and looked back at Jonah. "Dude, _nothing_ could ever be as creepy as your moustache." And then he launched himself towards the hospital.

Captain America smiled. Judging by the snark factor, Spider-Man was obviously back to normal.


End file.
